But I'm just Harry
by I am a writer. Fear me
Summary: Harry Potter's life is centered around his interaction with Voldemort, and all of the incredible things that happened in his life. But what about, just Harry?
1. The end and the beginning

If you had the chance.... To live a normal life. To imagine a world where... if something amazing had happened; something tragic; something wonderful, all because of one incident, was lost. You had a chance to live a normal life... Just be a normal child. Not have to go through anything out of the ordinary... just be normal.

If you had the chance, would you take it?

Harry walked slowly along Diagon Alley, tapping his wand on the buildings as he passed by them. It was past midnight; all the shops had closed, and only dim streetlights had given Harry a chance at seeing where he was going, what with the poor vision he already had.

A crippled man lay at the end of the corner, unnoticed by Harry. The man sat at the corner, looked at his watch, and then looked at Harry, groggily walking towards the end of the street.

Harry walked right into the man, and snapped out of his daze.

" I'm so sorry, sir... I didn't mean to, it's just, there's usually nobody here at this time of night, so I don't really pay attention... here let me help you..." Harry bent down to help steady the man. His hair whipped out of his face when he got up, and the street lights managed to shine quietly onto his scar. The man certainly did not forget to notice.

" So you're the famous Harry Potter. You certainly don't look happy for a man who has everything he could ever want.

Harry looked at the old, dried up man. Not this... not now.

" Listen, you don't know anything about me. You don't know _anything_ about who I am." Harry began to walk away from him; preparing to apparate out of the wretched place.

" You're a troubled man, Mr. Potter. You have everything any man would ever want; money, fame, a beautiful wife and kids... and yet. You linger for something else."

" Leave me alone... I have enough on my hands, you don't need to remind me." Harry muttered to him.

" I just wanted to repay you for helping me up... nobody every really pays attention to me, and when they do, they don't bother to help."

" There's no need to repay me, sir... I need to leave, anyway." Harry knew he didn't need to leave. He preferred to be alone, though, and this old man was getting annoying.

" No, no, I insist." The man flashed a crooked grin, and took out an even more crooked wand; long, and black. Almost as if his wand had been burnt before.

Harry looked at the wand curiously.

' What a bizzarre wand... what in the world is it made of?' Harry thought to himself, concentration now on the man.

" You see Mr. Potter... I can do magic like you. I can give you anything you want."

" Since when were you a magical 'do-it-all' wizard? You can't get me what I want... nobody can ever get it for me."

The man's grin turned into a small smirk.

" You want everything back... don't you?"

Harry stopped.

" You can't do that. You can't do that... it's impossible."

Harry lost patience, and turned around abruptly.

" I _can_ give it to you. I can do anything you want... just ask me. I can do it."

Harry uneasily looked at the charred wand, and contemplated furiously in his mind on whether or not to test this man's power. The temptation bubbled inside him, and he finally yelled, " I want for Voldemort to have never been born! Yes! I want a chance at a normal life! I want my parents alive, I don't want people to know who I am... I want to be just Harry. I want a normal life. You can't make that happen; nobody can."

Harry glared at the old man, his eyes becoming glossy with tears. The man gestured for Harry to come closer, and Harry collapsed next to him.

" Do you want this?" he whispered quietly in Harry's ear.

" I want this more than anything..."

" I _can_ give it to you."

Harry looked at the man with strong disbelief.

" That kind of magic is beyond imagination... the only thing close to time-alteration deals with a time-turner, and it's impossible to rewind as far as I'd like..."

" I _can_ do this, Harry Potter. I can give you what you want... the only thing is, if you do this... you can't go back."

Harry caressed his scar delicately, and a small glint of hope shined inside of him.

" You can make Voldemort never've gone near my parents? You can make it so that my parents had lived? I was raised by them? I had a normal education as Hogwarts? I was just... Harry?"

" I can do all of that. All I need is your permission, and you have to understand... everything that has happened in your life... will be gone. Anything that was a result of you being the famous Harry Potter will vanish. This life will never exist; you will have never suffered. Now are you sure that you want this?"

Harry looked at his life. He re-lived seeing Professor Quirrell jump at him, at an attempt to kill him next to the Mirror of Arised. He watched the Basilisk's body fall to the floor, next to a dying Ginny. He watched Professor Lupin fight his godfather, and his best friend be dragged away by him. He watched Cedric Diggory die. He watched Sirius Black die. He watched Albus Dumbledore die. He watched Fred Weasley die. He watched Hedwig die. He watched everybody die. Because of him.

" I'm sure."

The old man's hand rose, his wand's tip glowing softly; quiet waves of black started to encircle Harry's body.

" Say goodbye to everything that once was, now is, and ever will be, Harry Potter."

Harry woke up, his forehead beaded with sweat. He wiped it off quickly, and he put on his glasses. His eyes refocused, only to see his parents sitting right in front of him on his bed.

" Happy Birthday, Harry!" they sang, synchronised.

" How does it feel to be 11 years old, Harry?" his mother eagerly asked him.

" Great, I guess."


	2. Happy Birthday, Harry

(* READER'S NOTE: MAIN VIEW SWITCHES FROM ORIGINAL HARRY TO NEW HARRY USING :~ YOU'LL CATCH ON QUICKLY!*)

Harry stood there, looking at himself, only eleven years old, with his parents positioned jubilantly at the corner of his bedside.

_This has to be a dream, this has to be.... _he thought to himself.

Harry looked at his parents; they looked so cheery.

:~

" I got you something special, for the big '11', you know?" his father chirped. " _We,_" his mother butted in.

" Well, yes, _we_ got you something special. Do you know why, Harry?"

" Umm... it's a double digit?" Harry wasn't in the mood to think, he was much too tired for that nonsense. His parents looked at him, the answer he'd given was obviously dissapointing.

" You're going to Hogwarts this year, Harry!" they sang.

" Oh yeah... what house d'you think I'll be in?"

" Oh, Harry, you'll be a Gryffindor; it runs in the family." His father's face lit up suddenly, " I'll be right back!" He bolted out of the room.

" Where's he going?" Harry inquired.

" Probably to get some of his old Hogwarts things... that man's a packrat, I swear. Did you know, that he's kept his first year robes? They haven't been washed in thirty years!"

Harry laughed quietly, not doubting his mother for a second.

:~

Harry looked at the scene, taking it all in.

_My parents are alive... they're with me.... my mom... she's so wonderful... my dad... he's a slob... just as all of the teachers described him... messy, a packrat he is indeed..._

Harry wasn't actually believing this. He just stood, there, looking at the life that he could've had... if Dumbledore had just never taken in Tom Riddle to Hogwarts... he didn't realize how much he hated Voldemort until now. Until he saw what could've been, what life he could have led instead of being harrassed by his aunt, uncle, and cousin. Living with his parents, having a normal, lovely life. Not having to watch his friends and family _die_ because of Voldemort....

" It's not fair!" Harry screamed, not noticing that his younger self and mother stayed there undisturbed.

_'They can't hear me?'_ he thought. He decided to put his invisibility to the test.

" Hello?" Harry said, rather quietly; his mother continued to talk to Harry about his father. " Hello?" Slightly louder, yet no reaction. "HELLO!"

His younger self stayed completely normal, along with his mother.

_' They obviously can't see me... what about touch?' _Harry took a figure off of his shelf, and threw it at himself; before it hit his younger self, it popped out of thin air, and immediately returned to its original position, not a speck of dust had been moved.

" I'm like a ghost... I'm like I would be looking at a memory from the pensieve... it's like I'm not here... but I am..."

:~

Harry's father stumbled into his bedroom, a large box filled to the brim with God know what.

" What in the world is in there?" Harry exclaimed, not particularly happy with the fact that he'd spend his birthday morning reminiscing about his father's "good old days."

" It's my old Hogwarts specials! See here, I've got my first year robes..." Harry glanced at his mother, and she smiled at him. "... and here I've got my old broom, from my first Quidditch game! Ah, let's see if it still works, eh?"

His mother jumped up, " Have you gone bonkers?! We can't simply try out a flying broom in the middle of the muggle world!"

His father's face suggested that he was searching for a loophole. " How about at 11:00, tonight? Nobody'll be awake, and... you know. I want Harry to try his first broom-ride on his birthday..."

"Now dear... you have to understand, it's just not safe for Harry. He needs to be under proper instructions when he's beginning to fly... we'll just have to wait and see how Madame Hooch teaches him."

Harry just wanted to go back to sleep. His eyes slowly closed, and he leaned back into his warm bed.

" Harry? Wake up, son, you haven't looked at almost anything I've got in my box, here-"

" Dear, let's let him sleep some more. It's his birthday, and he's tired. Especially since you kept him up playing with your old snitch last night..."

" Right... well, wake up when you need to, Harry, and we'll have a nice big breakfast. Your acceptance letter to Hogwarts should be coming anytime now... and-"

" Alright, darling, he gets it! Have a nice sleep, Harry." His parent's left afterwards, quietly closing his bedroom door.

" Hmm..." Harry sighed as he drifted back into slumber.

:~

" Goodnight Harry." Harry muttered to himself.


End file.
